Re: [FT] Gunboats - points cost??

-MWS- wrote:

> Greetings, all!
> 
> I've been tossing some preliminary ideas around to try and come up
with
> some viable gunboat (FTL-capable fighter) rules to use with my
K'rathri
> FTFB designs.  I'd like some opinions on what you'd all consider a
"fair"
> points cost for the following:
> 
> Gunboats
> --------
> Gunboats are large, FTL-capable fighters.  They are capable of 
> extended, independent patrols and are effective at anti-shipping
attacks.
> 
> Gunboats use the basic Fleet Book fighter movement and attack rules, 
> with the following modifications.
> 
> 1) Gunboats are grouped in flights of 4 (as opposed to 6 for
fighters).
 
> 
> 2) They mass 3 each for hanger space requirements.

So a GB bay is Mass 18 if you use them. Hm... Well, OK - you don't have
to use them, since the GBs can jump in themselves. Or are you thinking
of
external GB racks here? <g>
 
> 3) Their base movement is 16 MU, and they get no secondary move.
> (rationale: they're a bit heavier & slower than regular fighters)

Works OK if you use Vector movement, but it'd be pretty hard to catch my
ships in a Cinematic battle. (Using the GBs as a close-in screen might
work... might. I still have bad memories from battles between MT
fighters
and ships racing around at speeds of 20-40 - if the fighters were lucky
they got a single shot off during an entire battle...)

> 4) Their endurance factor is 12.

Unless your opponent completely forgets to bring PDS, Class-1 batteries
or fighters, I'd be very suprised if they survive that long - especially
since they can't use secondary movement.

> 5) When engaged by fighters in a dogfight, gunboats always take 
> damage from the fighters first before any return fire is allowed.  
> (rationale: fighters are quicker than gunboats - gunboats were
optimized > to attack ships, not fighters.)

Ie, they always lose initiative - and worse, since they don't even
alternate fire in larger furballs. Ouch - you'd better not get hit by
enemy Interceptors :-/

> 6) A gunboat's 'beam' weapon uses 2 dice for its attack.  This attack 
> may not be split between targets - a gunboat group must still attack a

> single target like fighters do.

> 7) Each gunboat carries two 'torpedos' that may be used instead of its
> beams for an attack in a turn.  Each gunboat can launch only a single
> torpedo in a single attack run - the torpedo hits on a 3+ on 1d6 and
does
> 1d6 of damage each.

Similar to those of Torpedo fighters, but hits on a 3+ instead of on a
4+.
 
> 8) Gunboats ignore rolls of '4' when defending against fighters, PDS,
and
> Class 1 beams.  Unlike fighters, however, Class 1 beams used for PDS >
get a normal 2 kills + reroll when used against gunboats (rationale: 
> gunboats are considerably sturdier than fighters, so fighter & PDS
fire
is > less effective.  They're also less nimble, so Class 1 PDS is *more*
> effective.)

OK.
 
> 9) Strategically, a gunboat may make 4 FTL jumps before jump-engine
> refueling is required.  A gunboat may replace one or both torpedo 
> launchers with extra jump tanks - each jump tank so added extends the
>
gunboat's range by 2 jumps.

Depends completely on your background, of course.

> Just as an initial SWAG, I'm thinking that the points cost would be
> somewhere between 20 and 30 points per gunboat, making a group cost >
between 80 and 120 points.  Opinions, please?

Compared to a cost of on average 87 pts for a standard fighter squadron
(including fighter bay)... yes, 100 pts per squadron sounds reasonable
provided you don't have to pay for the GB bays.

Later,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry